I just received this question:
I was wondering what your thoughts were on Christmas Caroling, before Christmas. I find it strange (not the Caroling, but the Christmas part) as it’s not Christmastide yet. And, in fact it is Advent a time of preparation and removing hindrances from our life for Christ, a time of joyful penance.
It seems to me that American tradition and commercialization of the Christmas holiday has pushed Christmas Caroling before Christmas and out of the time of Christmastide. However, I prefer to do it correctly, follow the rules if you will especially when it comes to Catholicism. So, I was curious as to if you knew anything about the history of Christmas Caroling and the correct time of the year to do it.
Here’s my answer. I would be curious about yours:
This is a subject that vexes every Catholic this time of year: to what extent do we participate in popular Christmas activities? We can of course boycott all such things, even parties and shopping and house decorating, and waiting to do all these things until Christmas Day, when everyone else stops doing these things. That’s one way, but introduces its own sort of dangers, that of using the season as a reason to boycott and make a protest-based point, which we certainly don’t want to do.
What I’ve eventually settled into is a kind of moderate position, participating where possible, decorating when possible, but saving super special things for Christmas Day, like tree decorating and putting the Christ child in the manger. Then I leave this up for weeks after.
This strikes me as a reasonable way to go about things. I do not know the history but I do think it is unlikely that no one ever did anything to anticipate the birth of Jesus in the years prior to the cultural loss of the liturgical calender.
Now, none of the means that carols should be permitted in Mass before Christmas. They absolutely should not be allowed.
It might be helpful to make a distinction between actual religious observance (such as the choice of music used in worship) and secular traditions arbitrarily added to the "holiday season," such as Christmas trees. There's absolutely nothing inappropriate about having a decorated tree in your house during Advent, unless you're opposed to using the word "Christmas," like the prohibition on "alleluia" during Lent, in which case you can just call it something else.
Even a creche scene really isn't liturgical; since Advent consists in part of the *anticipation* of Christmas, there's no reason that anticipation can't have a visual rendering. (I have no idea what you mean by "no one ever did anything to anticipate the birth of Jesus" when every reading in Advent points to it.) And a party which happens to occur during Advent is just irrelevant to your religious observance, not in conflict with it.
Outside of church services, what people refer to as "Christmas carols" encompasses a wide variety of music, from Advent music (Veni Emanuel) to winter songs (Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride) to songs representing other times of year (Good King Wenceslaus, We Three Kings). Worrying about what department stores play as background music would indeed be a pointless protest.
P.S. Abstaining from shopping during Advent would make it much more difficult to give Christmas presents, don't you think? The only way to solve that would be to move the gift-giving ceremony to Epiphany, as they do in Latin American countries. Good luck with that, Don Quixote!
“Prepare ye the way…”
Many customs actually are appropriate for Advent. I have always thought of decorating for Christmas, especially with lights, as a symbol of our interior “preparing the way of the Lord”. Like the wise virgins in the Gospels, we light our lamps and stay awake to wait for the coming of the King. We decorate our houses so that we are ready to celebrate when the King arrives. We light our lamps in Advent in preparation and we keep them lit during Christmas in celebration.
We also celebrate an annual Advent supper on the first Sunday of Advent every year. Approximately 30 of us gather in the home of one of the members. It is very much an Advent celebration. It is a time when we begin a period of joyful expectancy. We pray first vespers of advent Sunday 1, we sing Advent(not Christmas) songs and we support each other in our commitment to preparing our lives for the coming of the Christ. Maranatha!
My idea; lets sing Advent songs and hymns during these four weeks, and Christmas songs et al from Christmas Eve until the sixth of January. That's the way I like to play my cd's every year. That's good ole Catholic tradition. My Gospel Choir (www.quintussense.de) sings christmas gospel, but only when Christmas time. In the Advent we sing 'St. Peter's Declaration', a gospel with the O-antiphons. Just a shame, that Germany isn't yet so modern, that the Liturgy in RC churches is the way it should be. But it is coming. No – than I'd rather go to church in the Netherlands. We Dutch have got a good 'Vereniging voor latijnse Liturgie', and several churches with proper Liturgy. (www.latijnseliturgie.nl) I wish you all a Merry Christmas, but only after the Advent!
Quintus N. Sachs M SEN
Might I suggest another problem is treating Christmas Eve liturgies as the summit of the season, after which it's all downhill?
The Masses of Christmas Day should not only be at least as splendid as those of the Eve, but in general the season should not sag in splendor towards Epiphany.
To do otherwise is like putting all your strength on the initial part of a chant phrase, letting the energy out too soon, instead of driving the arc of the phrase.
Frankly, I think this is even more of a problem in American Catholic liturgies in most parishes than the anticipating Christmas problem.
Great blog! Glad my friend shared your link.
As to the question you've posed here…our family discerns these things by asking ourselves whether or not the "event" has more to do with "preparing our hearts and fellowship in the spirit of the season" or "all-out 'Christmas' festivities". If it is the former, we participate occasionally; the latter, we politely decline.
That said, our own parish is holding a "Christmas Party" this coming weekend, which, of course, we will be politely declining.
The encroaching 'advent' of religious observance relegated to private observance and being quarantined from the culture has had a deleterious effect on the culture and church. It is part, in my opinion, of the struggle as to whether the Church influences the world and surrounding culture (lifts it up towards heaven) or the culture influencing the Church (making it more earth bound).
The Eastern Church still retains a 6 week Advent Preparatory. For American Catholics this would then include the National (religiously covert) holiday of Thanksgiving – hardly in keeping with the penitential, reflective, waiting atmosphere of Advent. The Christmas Season at one point ended on Candelmas, or the February 2, the Feast of the Presentation – 50 days of celebration for the Incarnation. More recently we have experienced the loss of the same sense of importance (length) of celebration by moving the traditional January 6 Epiphany to the second Sunday following Christmas. The same is true of moving the Feast of the Ascension – we are losing the sense of sacred time and that it is God who marks our time.
I also think that Liam has a point regarding Christmas Eve. I have been in parishes where there are up to 8 Christmas Eve masses to accommodate the throngs of people and especially "Children's Masses". Which leads to the now famous question: "What time is Midnight Mass?" (It is at 10:00 pm) Then there is the host of Christmas Day Masses where the numbers have been dwindling. This again, I believe speaks to a culture where travel is expected, and with so many blended and remixed families today and only one Christmas Day to meet all the obligations it becomes a day much like a progressive dinner.
Church musicians have to be knee deep in Christmas music long before Advent approaches the horizon.
So, while we cannot alone change the culture, we can influence it in small ways in how we choose to observe the seasons and feasts of the Liturgical year. If we decide to hold our festive gatherings after Christmas we would then have an opportunity to share with our guests the reason for doing do. Making purposeful, specific decisions and having a reason for doing so makes room for peace in our own souls in this frenetic season and then we will also be able to speak to others about our specific choice of observance.
I also try to steer a "middle course" on these things. Obviously, when I've been programming music for liturgies, it's ix-nay on the Christmas music until 12/24 and try to keep it going through Epiphany.
In the big world, I can't think of any surer way to annoy people than to lecture them on the evils of Christmas music before the feast. (The evils of "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" are separate from calendrical concerns.)
In your own circle and family, it's fine to focus on Advent. Asking people who've never even heard of Advent to change the habits of a lifetime will only mark me as a sourpuss. Not to mention my professional obligations as a musician hired to play background at a holiday party.
Share the history and tradition when and where you can, but recognize that in American culture, which is now predominantly secular with a frosting of Christian tradition, the season begins on the Friday after Thanksgiving and ends on New Year's Day at the latest.